Tom Hanks Stops By SNL

How cool is Tom Hanks? Apparently, he's cool enough to stop by Saturday Night Live to appear in one of the episode's oddest and funniest sketches in a completely thankless and hilarious role.

The sketch begins with the welcome return of the creepy/hilarious animatronic figures known as the "Merryville Brothers" and initially follows the format of their previous appearance in almost every way. A couple finds themselves stranded in an amusement park haunted house, right next to the those creepy robots who grow increasingly threatening every time they're activated. Even without its big celebrity cameo, the entire scene is still fantastic -- we could watch the terrible/amazing pantomiming of the Merryville Brothers all day.

And then Tom Hanks shows up and caps things off perfectly with a self-deprecating joke. In a way, this is perfect marketing for 'Cloud Atlas,' showing that Hanks is no longer concerned with being a Hollywood nice guy and is willing to get weird and dirty for his art. What do you think?